Ten days before the fixture – in which Southgate were attempting to retain the Hertgate Trophy, which was originally presented by Robert Urquhart Cole to celebrate the one hundredth meeting between the two sides in 1995 – a squad of twelve had been selected, although unlike many of the previous seasons there were no ‘cry-offs’ in the run up to the game.

Therefore, whilst Hertford were happy to accommodate Southgate playing twelve – with eleven to bat and bowl – they were not so accommodating after winning the toss, as they chose to take first use of the wicket, which in true Balls Park fashion was a ‘road’.

With two players ‘stuck in traffic’ and Jez having to swiftly leave his desk in Enfield when being advised we would not be batting as he (and we) had hoped, Southgate started with just nine men on the pitch. Suresh Kalagara and Matt Stratton took the new ball and the Hertford openers took advantage of the many gaps in the field as they scored 50 in the seven overs before we reached our full complement. Whilst, at the time, it seemed disastrous, seven an over was not too bad as the scoring rate throughout the game was five and a half an over!!

In the game’s eighth over, Ashley Sivarajah was introduced into the attack and immediately gave the captain some ‘run rate control’. Whilst he remained wicketless in the innings, he created chances – which were spilled by his team-mates – but in sixteen economical overs conceded less than four an over, whereas all of the other bowlers went for more than fives.

Two overs after the drinks break, Adam Vinson bowled Elliott King for 50, only ten runs after both Geoff Blackmore and Faisal Mir had dropped him off Ashley. Geoff, in particular was grateful, as two of his ‘drops’ in previous Hertgate Trophy games had cost the side well over two hundred and fifty runs!! After an opening stand of 86, Hertford’s no. 3, Jamie Riddle, dominated the second wicket partnership of 90, beating his partner (opener George Pavey) to fifty. However, soon after Faisal’s ‘off-spin’ convinced Jamie to play an expansive shot, and Faisal comfortably held the return chance to dismiss him for 58.

In the absence through injury of Hertford’s first team star, Western Australian, Michael Bailey, their second team Aussie, Guru Singh, strode to the wicket. He was in no mood to hang about and having been swatted for two or three boundaries, Faisal decided to dispense with his (fairly ordinary) off-spin and reverted to bowling properly. The wicket of Guru for 27, courtesy of an excellent catch by Alvin at first slip followed a maiden over, both overs having been much quicker than anything seen on the day.

At the other end Sam Faruqi was brought back for a second spell and bowled George Pavey (75) with his fourth ball. Then two overs later, Sam had Ash Abeywickrama superbly caught on the mid-wicket boundary by Matt Stratton. At that point, even though there were two relatively new batsmen at the crease, with Hertford were 249 for 5 off 49 overs – there was the extra-ordinary sight of Faisal bowling to four slips and two gullies. However, Chris Marques was not intimidated and using the numerous gaps in the field took 22 from an over to hasten the return of the spinners. After Adam Vinson safely pouched Chris Marques (46) off Sam, Hertford added just twelve runs from three overs before declaring at 297 for 6 off 56 overs.

From a Southgate perspective, the first five overs of our reply were far from ideal, as both Tom Edrich and Matt Stratton were caught behind off Guru Singh to leave us at 6 for 2. With Faisal not ready (for the second time in the day – although he claimed he was resting from the exertions of bowling!!) Suresh joined Kusal at the wicket and immediately ‘put bat to ball’, as Kusal settled in at the other end. However, when the total had reached fifty, Suresh was bowled by Guru for 22, and fortunately this time Faisal was padded up and ready to go.

During their eighteen over 103 run partnership, Faisal cleverly accumulated, whilst giving Kusal the strike whenever possible. As Kusal became more confident with the surface and his surroundings, his fluency increased and he regularly found the boundary with textbook cricket shots. When Faisal was dismissed for 28, Dan Ashley, in his first innings of the season, saw Kusal through to his maiden Southgate century. Thirty minutes later Danno was on his way back to the pavilion – and given that Hertford had spurned a number of much easier chances – he could be considered extremely unlucky to be caught and bowled by a diving Jamie Riddle for 17.

At 218 for 5 Alvin (The Finisher) Durgacharan joined Kusal at the crease with 80 needed off twelve overs. Whilst Alvin opened his account with a maximum, he was, where possible, happy to give Kusal the strike. Kusal took full advantage of the situation, quickly passing 150 before being finally caught by Guru Singh at wide mid-on for an excellent 171 – an innings which included 25 fours and 3 sixes.

At 263 for 6, Sam joined Alvin, with the side needing 35 off 35 balls. However, without fuss, or any semblance of a problem, Alvin (34*) and Sam (18*) saw Southgate home with five balls to spare to win the game by four wickets and retain the Hertgate Trophy.

Bob Cole presented ‘his’ cup to the winning captain, and the victory means that we have won the Trophy thirteen times in twenty years since 1995, having lost six games – including two that were ‘conceded’ – with a ‘no contest’ in 2004. More recently, we have won six of the seven Trophy games played in the Hertford Cricket Week.

Whilst this was a high-scoring game, it still didn’t quite match the first Hertford Cricket week fixture in 2008, where Southgate scored 357 for 4 declared and won by forty runs. Kusal Mendis batted superbly in making his maiden Southgate century, but (only just) failed to match the fixture’s top score of 183 by Sunden Dias – a fellow Sri Lankan – in the above mentioned 2008 fixture.

With six of the previous Saturday’s First XI in the side, this has become an established Southgate midweek fixture – long may this continue. Please can I say a big ‘thank you’ to all the side for playing, to Bob Cole and Geoff Burton, for umpiring and scoring, respectively, and to Martin Fletcher, who was our sole supporter. Finally, of course, we must yet again, thank the players, officials and supporters of Hertford Cricket Club for their fantastic hospitality.

Week 11 saw the in form Southgate 1st team travelling just round the corner to where Enfield awaited in what was a crunch game, with it being President’s day at Enfield there was even more significance to the game .

With storm like conditions the evening before and a very hot and humid morning with a bit of weather still lingering the toss was going to be even more crucial . Unfortunately Mir called wrong and without hesitation was duly inserted on what looked a typical Enfield track albeit with a huge band of cloud cover above.

Enfield opened up with the same two opening bowlers ( who did the damage to our top order in our first encounter ) , Smith and Edwards . The latter charging in not quite accurate but hitting the track hard and the other Smith ( the standout bowler ) who bowled a difficult 4th stump line with a nifty shorter ball to keep you honest .

Both bowlers started in the same fashion as they did at our place and in the first 4 overs our opening pair of Edrich and Stevens looked to combat them and see them of . However in rather unfortunate circumstances Stevens was run out at the non strikers end backing up as Edrich drilled a straight drive only for the bowler to flick it off his finger onto the stumps .

What followed next could only be described as a nightmare five minutes for the gate men in fact it was a bit of a horror show where we managed to lose 4 wickets for one run which left us reeling at 25-5 .

The first wicket of the procession was Mendis who after getting off the mark managed to snick off to one of Smith’s unplayable deliveries 24-2, Jouning entered and left the very next ball looking to pull a well directed bouncer only for him to sky it to mid on 24-3 !

The skipper entered at five and managed to negotiate the hat trick ball , however the next over Edrich departed chasing a wide one which was snaffled at point 25-4 , Jankowicz entered at 6 with his customary no helmet which sent tongues wagging to a now vociferous Enfield and there was only one place Smith was going to go upstairs which ended up in Karl gloving one to the keeper two balls later , cue the jubilant scenes from both on the field and off .

Southgate’s top order dismantled and left reeling on the ropes 25-5 of the 8th over, it was a terrible passage of play for us and one which we would never recover from, Durgacharan entered in at seven and it was now a matter of surviving and damage limitation. After a few play and misses for the first couple of overs in which now both bowlers had their tails well and truly up Durgacharan and Mir looked to restore some sort of normality in what was a one sided game.

The skipper alongside Durgacharan for the next 30 overs dug in under some testing bowling and immense pressure. It wasn’t a matter of trying to to set a score but just a matter of ‘batting the overs’ and seeing where we would end up. Mir at one end restrained himself and pulled out the shovel and well and truly dug in and Durgacharan after a tricky first ten overs found some fluidity to his play and started to find the odd boundary occasionally.

It was attritional stuff but with Enfield getting itchy knowing that only one more wicket would probably open the door for them , the experienced duo did not give it up. The overs ticked by and runs slowly started to come with a dogged stand of 85 for the sixth wicket . Durgacharan eventually fell for 44 with the score on 110-6 .

Ellis entered and played the way he only knows and peeled off a quick 23 with three fours and a six but departed caught at long on . Setia unfortunately didn’t get to face a single ball as an excellent piece of fielding which ran him out sent him packing . Meanwhile at the other end Mir still there playing the anchor desperately was looking for someone to stick around as the score was now 140-8 with a possible 10 overs left .

Kalagara stuck around for a few overs but holed out for 15 which meant Sivarajah strode to the crease as the last man. With partners running out and the skipper in the 40’s now after batting 40 overs , Mir looked to take a few chances and farm the strike. Sivarajah at the other end batted very sensibly and negotiated the returning Smith’s advances admirably. Mir eventually got to his fifty by playing one of only a few big shots of his innings by dispatching the ball into someone’s garden for a huge six . A very dogged and determined innings which saw wickets fall all around him but a thoroughly deserved knock .

He was the last man out trying to do the same thing with the score on 170 in the 52nd over and was caught on the boundary for a well constructed 54 of 117 balls .

A score which would be defendable provided Southgate bowled out of their skins and took their catches. Unfortunately having started off well by Mir removing one of the openers , Southgate managed to drop the other opener twice who Mir had set up beautifully ( five bouncers and then a full one dropped at slip ) and was struggling in his early teens . After drinks he kicked on and ended up scoring 91 falling to Jankowicz to eventually win the game with their number three who stuck around for 49* .

At 25-5 it was very difficult to win the game but the middle/lower order stood up well and scraped 170 with Durgacharan and Mir with the main partnership . With the sun coming out the second half and the pitch getting better to bat albeit with something still in the wicket we could have given Enfield a scare ( previous week all out for 65 ) but it was never to be as holding onto your catches with such a small target is crucial .

It was a real case of falling on our backsides having been flying for the last three games but we are not a bad side overnight, it was a case of not being at the races on that particular day with Enfield fully deserving the victory. We shall look to bounce back this weekend against Brentham at home . The team is fully aware of where they went wrong and shall look to put it right this Saturday .

Southgate 2nd XI

133 all out

47.4 Overs

Enfield 2nd XI

134-1

28 overs

On a sunny day following tropical storms the toss in this game was crucial. Although Enfield played well and look much more of a compete unit than in previous years, perhaps their most crucial success was in correctly predicting the fall of the coin. It is extremely rare that 3/4s of the fixtures in our division are won by the side batting second, and it speaks volumes that this took place on Saturday.

Having been asked to bat on a surface offering assistance to the seam bowlers, Enfield’s openers offered little to score from and dogged accumulation was the only option. When the infield was pierced, a damp outfield often slowed balls that would usually have reached the boundary. In fact, Southgate only managed seven 4s in just shy of 48 overs. Nevertheless a decent partnership between M Bell (29) and D Woffinden (6) took the score to 73-3 in the 25th over. Not a dominant position, but certainly one from where a competitive total of 180 or so was realistic. Unfortunately, as has so often been the case this season, one wicket brought several without much resistance and we quickly found ourselves languishing at 108-8. Partnerships between O Ali (16) and first S Wadham (7) and then R Desai (2) added a much needed 37 runs, but also showed that the wicket had flattened out and the outfield had quickened – ominous signs given our below par total.

Tea was a vast improvement on recent weeks and I particularly enjoyed the Homer Simpson style donuts.

The one thing we could not afford given our underperformance with the bat was to let Enfield off to a flier. Unfortunately a poor opening spell from our bowlers gave them exactly that. After 5 overs the score was 41 and the game as a contest was effectively over. C Barrell batted well for his 60-odd, but after this disastrous spell it was nigh on impossible to apply pressure with Enfield requiring 93 from 48 overs on a flattening wicket and much improved outfield. Credit should go to R Desai (8-1-34-0). Another good spell from him ensured the game lasted as long as it did. His figures were unjustly tarnished when his last over went for 11 when Enfield could smell victory. It was a matter of when rather than how in what was a one sided affair and we must look to pick ourselves up for a very important second half to the season.

Max Joseph

3rd XI

After a typical stormy night we were surprised to still be on at Holtwhites CC vs Enfield 3’s. The sogginess around ensured that the start was delayed an hour and 10 overs were lost. After a vital toss which we all knew Mike would lose we were inserted on what can only be termed as a ‘pudding’. Despite it being my first game of the season I was entrusted at the top of the order. 2 balls into the match my involvement in the game was over, caught behind. Amey hadn’t fared much better and ball was taking chunks of the pitch with it whilst seaming around. The bowlers made good use of the conditions early doors and bowled decent lines but crucially a tight length. Ankit and Sarfaraz saw off the new ball and steadied the ship adding 75 for the 3 wicket before the opener Quinlan, who at one point had figures of 9-4-9-4, came back on to remove Sarfaraz. Having assured us that ‘today would be the day’ Shiv played one lovely cover drive before running himself out. Will Dias lasted half as long as Ali and was out in the same fashion. Ankit brought up his fifty before showing shades of Root/Prior/Stokes and getting out to a great catch on the hook. At 100-6 with 2 new men at the crease they really should have gone for the throat but they gave us a look in by providing Mike and Ricky with some ordinary bowling which they happily biffed around as Ricky gave the demonstration in running between the wickets that he’d felt Ankit required earlier. Both batted well and finished with wee red inkers getting us up to a half way declaration at 161-6. Undoubtedly the highlight of the innings was when a ball was hooked high into the sun only for the fine fielder to lose it and stand completely still allowing the ball to bounce off him to the amusement of all. “On this pitch? With our bowling? No problem?”

Tea was excellent and we enjoyed a rare phase of England dominance in the test match whilst we ate.
We went out to bowl knowing that if we bowled well we should be fine. We didn’t bowl well, giving them a short one or two ever over allowing them to gain momentum. Even Roy and Sage were not their consistent selves and we never really looked like being in the game. When their number 4 came in and hit a towering straight six we were well and truly beaten and we just drifted through to the close. We were all disappointed by the result but conceded that we were thoroughly outplayed on the day.

For most the day was over and they hopped in their cars and went. However I was taking the train and whilst boarding of my flip flops fell between train and platform. This thoroughly summed up my day and being a miserable Scottish bastard I couldn’t just leave it and buy a new pair so I had to go onto the tracks and fetch it leaving me stranded for an hour waiting for the next train. Thankfully Mike and Ricky were still at Holtwhites and I joined them for a quick pint where the highlight of my day was being told by Ricky that Sage plays the trumpet.

It also became apparent during the day that Roy had become a Grandparent for the fifth time during the match, just to clarify that the fifth time in total, not during the match. Well done to all concerned and congratulations!

Alistair Lynch

4th XI ?
Sunday U21s

This match was cancelled as Stanmore couldn’t raise a team, our next game is a quarter final at home on Sunday against Hackney.

Some cracking match reports this week, some for week nine and some for week ten. Big games coming up this weekend weather permitting, good luck to everyone involved.

“Treesy does it ”

Southgate CC (vs) Harrow St. Mary’s – 12 July 2014

Harrow St. Mary’s: 105 all out in
Southgate CC: 106/1 in 29 overs

On yet another bright, sunny day and on the back of 2 straight wins, the Southgate 1st XI got to the ground early to keep the intensity up and terrorize the opposition with our warm-up. Some of us only managed to rock up at the ground with 30 mins to the first ball, still feeling the ill effects of a Friday night out at ‘Mahiki’ http://www.mahiki.com/

Kalagara and the skipper opened the bowling with Kalagara finding the edge in his first over which is becoming a bit of a habit. Faisal Mir at the other end worked up some pace & bounce bowling a good line & length and was troubling most batsman, at one stage had field placement of 4 slips, 1 leg slip & 1 gully ( with 10 men ) certainly a fielding set-up that I have not yet seen in my brief Southgate career. Faisal ran through the top order and ended up with figures of 3 for 32 off 8 overs as well as being on a hat trick . Just prior to the drinks break we had a minor mishap with Kusal running away to the hospital via Peter thinking he dislocated his finger, but in fact x-rays revealed only bruising to his finger.

After a good spell from the openers, ‘The Woff’ and the ‘Sunday Specialist’ took over and bowled well in tandem, suitably aided by the opposition batsmen. Both Woffinden & Sivarajah picking up 3 wickets each in the process cleaning up the tail end of the batting order. We did briefly welcome back Hadge batting at 10 to the Walker as he ran out of batting partners. Harrow St. Mary’s finished up at 105 all out which I thought was a fair result of their batting effort and certainly kudos to the Southgate bowling department who have been consistent all through the season building pressure & picking up wickets at key moments.

Sue’s teas over the last couple I must say have been getting better with the Pizza & Strawberry Cake being a hit this time around! Jankowicz snared a few cakes along with the many sandwiches while his hands continue to grow bigger and handshakes harder. By this time the skipper had arrived back from the hospital with our overseas recruit and was doubly pleased to see we had not lost any wickets as we went straight back out after bowling the oppo in 30 overs for a 40 minute slot .

The wicket playing well, Edrich & Stevens open the batting to fairly nonchalant batting display with Stevens being particularly tough on Hadgie bowling up the hill, taking 20 of one over with some lovely shots. Michael Stevens eventually fell for a well compiled 36. With not a lot of runs to chase after tea Edrich & Jamie Jouning wrapped up the win in quick time (29 overs).

With three wins on the trot and the season well into its second half, Southgate are placed 4th in the league table with a massive game coming up against Enfield away.

We carry a good deal of momentum and confidence within the ranks to Enfield ( who were rolled for 65 by Indian Gym last week ) and we should give a good display of ourselves .

See you all at Mahiki on a Friday night fairly soon..

Suresh

2nd XI v Wycombe House (Away)

SCC 179-8 (53)
Stratten 54

WHCC 146-8 (47)

Southgate Winning Draw

Logistically the away trip to the outer reaches of Osterley proved to be problematic, but with a successful call from ‘stand-in’ captain Joseph in the absence of Faruqi; hurtling back from Leicester after signing a lucrative sponsorship deal with Gray Nichs for 2015, we elected to bat. Ellis and Stratten started well, with the seam bowlers providing little to trouble the Southgate top order.

The introduction of two canny spinners on a spongey green wicket created cause for concern. Ellis (10) soon perished while Stratten (54) batted diligently occupying the crease for a long period to bring up a valuable 50. Supported by cameos from Johnson (23), Berman, Bellwood and Faruqi, Southgate amassed a strong total of 184 that offered variable bounce and square turn to the spinners.

With a competitive total on the board and a minefield to defend on, we endured chapter 2 of the dig-in; tea. The hosts offered a wide variety of options making the long journey seem all the more worth-while.

Opting for the old ball to extract as much spin and bounce from the wicket, Ali (24-2) opened up and made light-work of the Wycombe House openers. Ravi (42-4) opened from the other end bowling in tandem with leg-spin duo Johnson (20-1) and Faruqi (8-1).
The spin trio all asked challenging questions of the batsman and beat the bat on numerous occasions, but in Chapter 3 of the Digin the impenetrable Wycombe House lower middle order stood firm and anchored a losing draw, with the run chase abandoned at a very early stage.

Sadly, this result suits neither team keeping Wycombe House adrift at the foot of the table, while the Gate missed out on a much needed 10 points on the road.

Josh Berman

Southgate 134 all out, West Harrow 95 all out, Southgate 10 points

In many, many years of 4th XI cricket I can’t remember when our fielding won a game (may be due to my failing memory?), but this is what happened on Saturday.

We batted first on a blistering day in a busy park in Harrow (second pitch on the old Harrow St Mary’s ground). The pitch was dusty and low and their bowling was pretty decent, especially Dirhen who ended up with 7 wickets. The innings was built around Julius Thomson who got 41 from no. 3 and was last man out (would have opened if he’d been on time, but he wasn’t alone as the Harrow one way system defeated quite a few of us). Everyone else got a few, especially Liam Babwah who got 15 at the top against their most intense bowling, and we ended up with a defendable total.

The bowling started with the pace of Will Dias and the dependable and accurate Dave Wakefield. Will didn’t get any wickets and Dave ended up with 6, but I think some of these were due to batsmen taking a chance against Dave because they didn’t fancy it at the other end. This started with the opener smashing it at Julius at short extra and he held a low screamer. Will made a gully catch look easy and Liam Babwah and Tom Clark both made light work of running catches. Sam Sheikh took over from Will and bowled some big inswingers which disturbed the batsman. He got enough bounce for Julius to get a catch at short mid wicket off the splice. Sam ended with 3 wickets in an excellent debut, but we may have a small problem with his huge run up (at least 20 paces, but variable). Some of the older players behind the wicket can’t see him at the end of his run, so don’t know when he starts (me) and others lose concentration during the run up (Graeme).

Although we had them 70-7 they were still in with a chance when their captain came in. He is the modern north-west London / Indian equivalent of the village blacksmith. His first ball went over cow corner into the adjacent bowling club and this style continued briefly as he got about 20 in no time. But he couldn’t contain himself and when he tried a repeat of his first shot Liam took an excellent catch on the boundary. The aforementioned Dirhen was clearly also a decent bat (not sure why he was in their 3’s!) but the final piece of excellent fielding came when he was trying to farm the strike with no 11. He called for a slightly ambitious third from the last ball of an over, but no. 11 wasn’t quite in tune and Shaffick Babwah ran him out with a good throw well gathered by Christian McLoughlin.

Thanks to Del for umpiring and John for scoring.

Doug Gordon

From week 9 !

“Bat the overs win the game ”
After winning a magnificent 10 points last week against Eastcote which proved to be vital as we moved from second bottom to 4th in the table, It was time for us to play Harrow at home and try carry forward our momentum .

Mir won the toss and decided to bowl on what looked a good track. Suresh and Faisal opened up and bowled well with Suresh picking up an early wicket with the skip being very unlucky having beaten the bat numerous times . As the harrow opener and number 3 started to settle the introduction of Woffinden and Stevens started to cause some major problems as Harrow started to struggle. We had Harrow 8 down through some tight bowling and good disciplines and thought we had them on the ropes but a late partnership with there number 9 and 10 helped them reach a total of 219.

A little annoying for the team as we had done all the hard work but the interruption of a rain break and some very good batting from the Harrow tail whereby they scored their highest partnership of the game allowed them to reach to 200+ .

The chat from the Skip was to be positive and to stay up with the rate with a parting shot to the team of “Bat the overs and will win the game”!

We had a new opening pair of Stevens and Edrich that got us off to a very good start by staying above the required rate for the first 10-15 overs. Stevens carrying on his good form from last week with commanding shots and flurries of boundaries and Tom “the JCB” Edrich being very watchful and dropping anchor. A partnership of 88-1 ( with Michael falling lbw ) of the first 18 overs was just what we needed. With Kushy succumbing to a top edge after playing too early on one on his pads which remarkably carried to deepish long on we found the rate slowing dropping . Edrich played well for his 58 but fell and the Harrow bowlers now had their tails up. The experience pairing of Alvin and Jouning joined the crease and found life hard early on but stuck around but the rate was now increasing. Suddenly wickets started to fall and having gone from a position of strength at 180- 3 we lost 3 quick wickets and were now 184-6 under a bit of pressure .Having been up with the rate we now needed 6 an over in the last 8.

Not for the first time this season Faisal who dropped down the order got the southgate innings back on track alongside Suresh by getting some quick runs on the board through some clever running between the wickets and some lusty blows. Harrow who thought they might have a chance of winning at one stage could see the writing was on the wall.

However with 3 needed Faisal decided to keep things consistent to the season thus far and consistent to his pre innings speech (“bat the overs win the game “) and came down the wicket to finish the game with a bang. Unfortunately he just missed the ball and got stumped, this left Phil to finish off the game in the last over with a boundary and seal the victory with joyous scenes on the boundary from the ever increasing crowds.

It was a good team performance and a very good chase, albeit leaving it till the last over wasn’t in the plan or was it ?

The momentum and confidence from this win we now take into next week against Harrow St Mary’s in what is going to be a very important and interesting second half to the season.
Ashley Sivavrajah

3rd XI v Indian Gymkhana

A heavily depleted 3rd XI hosted Indian Gymkhana on Saturday, with a very short boundary to one side and a good wicket it looked like it could be a high scoring match.

Déjà vu from the past 2 weeks hit once more, as we found ourselves at 60-5. But as has been the case recently, one partnership rescued the ship. Jeremy and Ankit batted sensibly together, taking good singles and giving loose deliveries the treatment. Despite pulling a hamstring Jeremy continued onwards, and unfortunately the reduced mobility was Ankit’s undoing as he was run out looking for a sharp single. However his solid innings of 65 opening the batting was real encouragement for what has been a fragile top order in recent weeks. Jeremy farmed the strike in the back end of the innings, taking apart an impressive opener who came back for his second spell. After hitting one boundary, Ricky was bowled and Niroosh came out and hit a few singles to give Jeremy the strike. Jeremy was finally dismissed for 64, and the captain came out to finish the innings off with some mighty blows- or so he might have pictured whilst waiting to bat. The final over consisted of singles to fine leg as not many deliveries were connected with, and we batted 47 overs, leaving just 45 to bowl out Gymkhana. However a score of 187 was a great recovery, with about 100 of those coming in the last 15 overs.

Knowing that Gymkhana would come hard at us, we knew that taking early wickets would be crucial to stunting the run chase. Niroosh delivered as he has regularly this season, taking a wicket with his second ball, scattering the opener’s stumps with a good yorker. However he strayed onto the pads and was frequently clipped through mid-wicket for runs. Roy bowled nicely from the other end, inducing ambitious shots from the batsmen. How he didn’t get a wicket is still a mystery to us. At around 40-1 however, riding their luck, the batsmen had seen out our opening assault and kept up with the run rate. One sharp single too many saw a great run out to accounting for the free scoring opener and we were back in with a chance. Some good bowling from Adrian and James tied the batsmen down, however too many leg side deliveries provided easy singles from the top end. James bowled beautifully, giving the ball some air and the batsmen regularly holed out to mid-wicket and long on trying to take him on. Ankit took two great catches at long on, and on the stroke of drinks a full toss from Adrian was toed to James who took a simple catch. New batsmen were greeted with oddly defensive fields, but overwhelmed by how many easy singles were available they proceeded to hit short deliveries straight into the hands of square leg where Niroosh and Roy were more than happy to take the catches. With only a few wickets left, the Gymkhana batsmen finally knuckled down and batted more sensibly and combined with some generous umpiring drew closer and closer to the 4 point mark. The boundaries dried up, and finally one of the batsmen snapped, charged down the track to James and hit one flat to mid-off, where Niroosh took a solid catch. A short square leg position was employed, and somehow the final two batsmen flicked the ball identically straight to this fielder where Jeremy and Sarfaraz respectively held on to win the game for Southgate.

We are now top of the league by 6 points, with Enfield and Perivale Phoenicians hot on our trail. We play both of these teams in the coming fortnight and these could well determine the success of campaign this season. If our batting becomes more reliable and our bowlers continue their good work then I am sure we can overturn both of them and potentially be well clear in a couple of weeks.

The above game is played for the Hertgate Trophy (presented in 1995 by Southgate CC Past President; Robert Urquhart Cole) and for the seventh consecutive season is being played as the opening fixture in the Hertford CC Cricket Week – next week.

Having been victorious five times in the six games played in the Hertford Cricket Week since 2008, Southgate are looking to retain the Trophy won in a hard fought two-wicket victory last year.

The game is due to be played on Monday 21st July 2014, with an 11.30am start, at the Hertford CC ground in Balls Park, Hertford.

All Southgate members – in particular Past & Vice Presidents and Honorary Members are most welcome to attend – for the whole day, for the afternoon, for the early evening or even just in the bar. If you want to join the team plus selected guests, for lunch at Hertford, please contact Geoff Blackmore on 07747-042567 in advance, so that arrangements can be made.

Week 8 saw a dramatic win for the 1’s who managed the only victory in all three 1st divisions (quite astonishing ) and the 3’s kept up their impressive form with another 10 points. The 2’s could only muster out a draw having set a sporting declaration and then had the opposition 7 down in what was a rain affected game . The 4’s ended up with 1 point and the development squad on Sunday just lost out in a close encounter at home to Hampstead in what turned out to also be a very competitive affair.

Read about the 1’s encounter with the rest of the reports to follow .

1st XI v Eastcote (away)

Southgate 208 for 4 dec. (35 overs) – Mendis 51, Stevens 71*

Eastcote 149 all out (25.2 overs) – Mir 4-50

Saturday morning routine … 2014 edition.

1) Open curtains, breath deep sigh of relief, the sun is shining.

2) Remember it is a Saturday in 2014, check weather forecast.

3) Chauffeur various children around North London, sneak in a pre-match warm up jog in the beautiful sunshine.

4) Set off for away fixture, turn on windscreen wipers, arrive in torrential rain.

Batting (nearly) all the way down, with the bowling attack back to full strength and buoyed by extra net sessions in the week we were keen for some cricket and desperate for some points. Rain was certain to play its part, but thanks to the sterling efforts of Eastcote’s groundsman, the club’s extensive and well maintained covers and a positive approach from both captains and umpires, the overs lost were kept to a minimum.

Eastcote won the toss, elected to bowl and waited for the rain to stop. A delayed start, but a brisk one for Southgate through Alvin Durgacharan (22) and Tom Edrich (20). Alvin and Tom moved the score to 43 for 1 off ten before Alvin was the first to fall, beaten by a good ball from the impressive opener from the pavilion end. Kusal Mendis joined Tom and, with the rain returning, got off the mark with four, four and six from consecutive balls. 63 for 1 from twelve was a great platform on a rain affected day.

After an early tea we resumed knowing we had a maximum of 61 overs for the game. All kinds of theories were flying around in terms of targets and declarations. Skipper Faisal Mir took them all in, discarded most and came up with what turned out to be the perfect plan.

Michael Stevens joined Kusal for the decisive partnership of the match. Both batsmen batted beautifully. Their aggressive running between the wickets and intelligent shot making were a pleasure to watch. Both scored at well over a run a ball (Kusal 51 off 36, Michael 71 not out off 62) but, remarkably for innings at Eastcote with its renowned short boundaries, nearly half their runs came from ones, twos and threes. A striking contrast to the home team’s death or glory approach to the run chase.

When Kusal fell straight after reaching his half century, Faisal entered, dabbled with the dab and departed. Jamie Jouning (28 not out) added another 68 runs with Michael in quick time, including a trade mark lofted off drive for six, enabling an aggressive declaration on 208 after 35 overs.

Eastcote had 26 overs for their reply, with a good track, drying outfield and those short and ever so tempting boundaries. With 4 points very attractively priced at 156, its fair to say that Eastcote’s half time team talk probably involved phrases like “solid start”, “wickets in hand”, “we can get this” and “four points will be easy”.

Suresh Kalagara put down the sports section of the Times and picked up the new ball. His first delivery swung sharply into the left handed opener, inducing a mis-timed flick straight to Dave Woffinden who followed the Mir blueprint by letting it hit him in the chest and then hanging on. The umpire at Faisal’s end would later adopt a similar approach to stop a brutally hit straight drive – briefly raising our number of fielders to 12 before we returned to the traditional 11 and later adopted the less traditional 10 while Phil Dunnett was off the field having his dislocated finger tugged back into place.

In homage to the tournament under way in Brazil, Southgate v Eastcote became a game of two halves. At one end the skipper was bowling beautifully. Nipping the ball off the pitch and in the air, beating the bat and generally being too quick and too good for the Eastcote top order. At the other end … well, lets say that the batsmen quickly worked out where they would need to get most of their runs if they were going to get anything out of the game.

Faisal’s opening burst had Eastcote 35 for 4. Would we have enough time to blast them out? The slip cordon was expanding as quickly as Eastcote’s chances of getting anything more than a point were receding, but Eastcote’s lower order had other ideas. Taking what they could from Faisal’s end, which wasn’t much, the long handle was employed long and often at the other. Woffers went the distance and Mike came into the attack, picking up two wickets in his first over before getting the treatment in his second.

Eastcote looked to be timing their run chase for four points to perfection. Big swings, leisurely singles and suddenly the pressure was on Southgate. The tall right handed number eight led the charge, hitting five fours in nine balls before the skipper nipped one back and bowled him through the gate.

Two overs to go, eleven needed, three wickets in hand. We needed some more Mir magic. The skipper pulled out his new phone and dialled 0800 PIE. Woffers delivered and Kusal completed a smart stumping. Next ball, quick single to cover (to Faisal) – what were they thinking? A direct hit run out aiming at one stump. Eastcote were nine down and needed seven from the last over.

A deep breath, a push off the sightscreen and Faisal charged in once more. Full … straight … game over. Eastcote all out for 149. Even Shane Warne would struggle to criticise this captain’s contribution.

Woffers

1st XI enjoying a well deserved drink and team selfie in the dressing room at Eastcote last week .

2nd XI vs Wembley at Home

Southgate 189-4 dec ( 29 overs )

Wembley 133-7 ( 37 overs )

Southgate 4 points

Southgate 2s played host to Wembley’s 2s on Saturday.

With both teams on similar points it was a crucial game for both sides. However the regular pattern of sunshine all week and rain on a Saturday was repeated again.

After a couple of pitch inspections by the umpires and a good effort to get the pitch dry by Jack the groundsman and players from both sides the game was reduced to 65 overs in the day rather than the usual 100.

The toss was crucial which we unfortunately lost. Having being inserted in to bat openers matt stratten and Karl Jankowicz got us off to the best start we could have asked for.

It is not usually we see Karl behind the other opener 10 overs into it, but Matt Stratten was in great form dispatching the ball around to all parts of the ground. Good boundaries together with some great running between the wickets got Matt a very classy 62.Karl had enough and was feeling left behind and moved into 5th gear too and ended up with a good 45.

our 1st wicket fell at 104 off 17 overs.

Max Joseph and scott ellis fell early trying to up the scoring rate and we found ourselves at 129 for 4 off 22 overs. We could have easily slipped up here but Ollie Bellwood (23 no) and Faruqi (36) had other ideas. The pair put on 60 off the next 7 overs and we made a brave declaration at 189 off 29 overs leaving Wembley with 36 overs to get the runs and for us to get 10 wickets.

Wembley came out all guns blazing and were 40 off the 1st 6 overs. With ravi and Sam Wadam introduced into the attack the run rate was pegged back and we kept picking up wickets every few overs giving us some sort of a chance. However Wembley decided to shut shop and play safe making it very difficult for us to take the remaining 8 wickets in 30 overs on a good batting track We still managed to get 7 of their men and I am pretty confident had this have been a full game we would have won. They finished on 133 for 7 after 36 overs and we walked away with a well deserved winning draw.

Omair ali and Josh Berman were the pick of the bowlers picking up a couple of wickets each with Wadham, Desai and Kolekar getting 1 each.

Overall a good performance by everyone with our hopes still high to finish amongst the top few this season.

Sam Faruqi

3rd XI

PARK CRICKET & THE TALE OF THE HARE AND THE TORTOISE

When you play higher level cricket you don’t have to think about balls, bails, stumps and all the other essentials that ensure a prompt start at 1pm. Not that we could have started at 1pm because we were in the middle of a torrential downpour. However somewhat remarkably, as soon as the rain abated, the pitch was eminently playable. The only problem was Bessborough’s captain could not be found; we eventually learned that he’d gone to the station !! So nothing happened which was very frustrating as the further delayed start meant the match would be reduced by more overs than necessary

When, after half an hour of blazing sunshine, the captain eventually returned, the match was agreed as an 84 over affair. We duly lost the toss and were inserted. This may have been a disappointment at the time but as the game progressed it ultimately worked to our favour.

So there we were midway into the afternoon, the match finally about to start but no stumps, bails or ball – so a further delay ensued.

When we eventually got underway Marcello at No.1 had a bit of a shock. Not the usual 3rd XI old trundler but the passenger collected from the station proved to be a young thoroughbred assisted by a rather sporting pitch.

Carnage followed: 1-3, 2-13, 3-27 & 4-40. Bessborough must have thought the 10 pts were already in the bag but little did they know what was in store for them. In strode Jeremy Dangerfield to join Sarfaraz and for the first few overs they faced a real test. However with the rain returning, the creases becoming slippery ( one teaspoon of sawdust or two ? ) and the ball getting very wet, the initiative rapidly changed. By the time the players were finally forced from the field ( sorry “park” – although I have to be fair and say one of the better ones !! ) the partnership had taken us to a rapid 101 from just 19 overs.

Fortunately we were able to take an early tea which meant that when we eventually resumed, the match was reduced only from 84 to 75 overs. Realising we would have to give our bowlers at least 40 overs for us to have a chance of taking all 10 wickets, Jez & Sarf continued at a cracking pace to enable us to set the most sporting declaration I have ever known – 183-5 in just 31 overs to leave Bessborough with a full 44 overs to get them. Jeremy finished 78no and Sarf 65, their 5th wicket partnership being a massive 143. But the job was only half done.

With the weather now set fair for the rest of the day we were lucky enough to be able to bowl with a dry ball which is so important. Niroosh and Roy took the new cherry but although Niroosh took two good wickets ( and should have had a third !! ), Bessborough were well on course after 10 overs at approx.. 60-2. Once again the followers of the Hare must have been getting very excited.

Gradually however Bessborough were worn down by the change bowlers , especially the captain’s continuing “Golden Arm” ( 5-33 ) and combined with some excellent fielding which contributed 2 run-outs Bessborough capitulated to 135 all out with 4 overs to spare.

Thus ends the tale of the Hare & the Tortoise – but alas not of “Park Cricket” we still have many more splendid grounds to visit !!!!

At the time of writing the League table has yet to be fully updated but I suspect we’ll be near enough top so we should have a great rest of season ahead of us pushing for promotion.